Trip Home From Williamstown - Part II

With the conditions of those starboard wheels and hubs, I had no choice but to unhitch, go to the service plaza (remember, only two miles further up the road) and do a bit of research.

I asked around to everyone there who might have an idea of where I could find parts and even talked to one of the remote service providers that work under contract for the turnpike authority, but nothing seemed to offer a solution.  Then, I got on my smart phone and found - much to my amazement and good luck - a listing fairly locally for a company names MGS Incorporated who manufactured trailers and sold trailer parts.  And, it was only about 28 miles further to the West.

So, I proceeded to get off at the exit 286 and made my way to Muddy Creek Church Road in Denver, PA where I was able to purchase two different hubs (one with integral brake drum, one without) and full sets of bearings and seals and, according to the helpful clerks, everything I needed.  Again using my smart phone resources, I was able to locate a local Auto Zone where I was able to buy a small grease gun (to service the bearing buddies on the port side), wheel bearing grease, rags and a few other miscellaneous pieces.

So, I go back to work on the trailer.  It is at this point I should mention the concept of a "Limited Access Highway" which is a characteristic of freeways and to an even more restricted access, to Turnpikes as well.  What this means is that there is no where to access anything except to get off at the next exit.  From where I was broken down, this meant that I had to drive 28 miles to the next exit, two or three miles off the exit and then add this 31 miles back to get even with my location.  But, since there are no cut-throughs, I had to drive another 7 miles to the next exit (pay a toll, make a u-turn in the toll booth and drive another 7 miles back to the trailer.  So it took about 76 miles of driving to make a return trip to work on the trailer.  Due to missing parts and or tools, this had to be repeated three more times and staying in a hotel over two more nights was necessary until I was finally able to get underway with everything fixed on Sunday morning.

The drive westward was cautious but uneventful and I was able to make it to Streetsboro (Western edge of Cleveland) to stay the night on Sunday and continue home by mid-afternoon on Monday.

Including parts, tools, supplies, meals, hotel rooms and gasoline,nearly $700. was added to the original purchase price of the boat before it was parked on Murphy Mountain!